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Monday Injury Rounds: Week 5 - Footballguys

Early expectations on T.Y. Hilton and Rob Gronkowski for Thursday night. Updates on Leonard Fournette, Joe Mixon, Devonta Freeman, and many others. Detailed table reviewing injuries at every position.

by Jene Bramel, October 1Photo: Brian Spurlock, US Presswire

NOTE: During the regular season, this column is a living document through Tuesday morning. I'll be updating as needed after team press conferences, imaging reports, Monday Night Football injuries, etc. Major changes to the content will be noted in red.

Scroll to the bottom of this article for a quick look table of the week's most pressing injury situations and a review of players on injured reserve / PUP / NFI.

Footballguys will have close and detailed coverage of all injuries this season. Here's a look at my expected schedule. I will do my best to stick to this. Work and family responsibilities may sometimes cause brief delays.

Monday Injury Rounds: Posted Sunday night, updated through Tuesday AM. Detailed analysis of the week's injuries with table for quick review. Offensive injuries will be live Sunday night. Critical defensive and offensive line injuries will be added throughout the day on Monday. I'll be updating with news and analysis through Tuesday.

Midweek Injury Expectations: Posted Wednesday night. Analysis of the practice participation report with a table including my projection of each injured player's likely game status. Will include discussion of any major breaking injury news.

Sunday Gameday Expectations: Posted by Saturday afternoon, updated through Sunday morning inactives. Will include individual player blurbs with detailed thoughts on the week's injury news and my speculation on player availability and limitations. Will include table highlighting each day's practice participation, official game status, and my availability expectation.

I'll be contributing to our waiver wire podcast (Tuesday release) and our live Sunday morning pregame show (10 ET Sunday on YouTube). I will also be retweeting key pieces of news and my own reaction and analysis, so make sure you're following me @JeneBramel and checking my timeline on Twitter throughout the week.

INJURY ROUNDS

Fournette was forced from the game in the first half with hamstring tightness. There's a glimmer of hope that the Jaguars again chose to be cautious after Fournette reported "tightness" following eleven touches in the first two series. But the injury is far more likely to be an aggravation of his previous hamstring strain.

The Jaguars have routinely been careful about Fournette's rehab and recovery time, allowing multiple weeks of practice and conditioning before returning him to play. And aggravated soft-tissue injuries are usually as bad or worse than the initial injury. Fournette rehabbed for one week and slowly increased his practice participation over two additional weeks after his Week 1 injury. Prepare for Fournette to again need multiple weeks to rehab this aggravation. If the team decides to rehab longer than three weeks this time, the Jaguars' schedule may come into play. Jacksonville plays in London in Week 8 and has a bye the following week.

I don't expect Fournette to practice this week. If he does, it's an excellent sign. If not, his practice participation leading into Week 6 will be critical.

rob gronkowski | ankle injury | day-to-day | questionable week 5

Gronkowski was added to the Week 3 injury report on Thursday, fully practiced Friday, then played every snap. This week, Gronkowski was one of eleven Patriots limited all week in practice. He looked uncomfortable at times and eventually left the game in the third quarter without any obvious aggravation. There were no clues as to which ankle is injured or what type of injury Gronkowski is dealing with. New England may simply have chosen to be cautious with a four touchdown early third quarter lead and a short turnaround to Thursday's game. Expect more limited practice for Gronkowski this week. Hopefully, we won't be sweating a game-time decision.